The father was trying to raise money so that he could take his daughter to a spirit healer who could help exorcise the jungle spirits from his daughter.
This festival starts around midnight, when women and children who are naked sneak out of their huts, and are carrying out nocturnal rites to exorcise the village of evil spells.
To exorcise this ghost, they both act on impulses reaching impromptu decisions that voice deeply held sentiments, which they push out at the time from any detail analysis.